This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that Maldivesa real economy has picked up. Growth is estimated to have reached 5 percent in 2014 with stronger tourism activity driven by a rapid expansion from Asian markets and a tepid recovery from Europe. The IMF staff expects growth to be about 5 percent in 2015. Weaker import prices have pushed down inflation to low levels. Growth is expected to remain relatively strong in the near term, though the fiscal adjustment envisaged in the 2015 Budget will have a mildly negative effect on growth.... worrying picture of the current account (with deficits of 10.6 percent of GDP in
2012 and 6.5 percent of GDP in 2013); external debt ... spending, measures in
the 2015 Budget and earlier increases in taxes, including the Tourism Goods and
Services Tax (TGST) should help to rein in the deficit. ... Consistent with these
developments, the main changes in the macroeconomic assumptions in the 2014
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